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President and Mrs. Johnson watch the launch of Apollo 11 at the Kennedy Space Center-July 16, 1969. [Photo courtesy of NASA]

The LBJ Presidential Library and the Johnson Family Remember Neil Armstrong

Aug 27, 2012

In July 1969, Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson were invited as special guests to the Kennedy Space Center to watch the launch of Apollo 11 carrying Neil Armstrong and his crew to the moon.

In 1958, as a Senator, Johnson guided the bill creating NASA through Congress. As Vice President, Johnson was Chairman of the Space Council and prepared a report for President Kennedy stating that the United States was capable of sending a man to the moon. As President, Johnson made sure that funding continued for the Apollo program. Neil Armstrong was a brave pioneer and proud American who will be missed.

Jeremi Suri, Mack Brown Distinguished Professor for Global Leadership, History, and Public Policy at the University of Texas at Austin, wrote sn inspiring tribute to Armstrong, which challenges Americans to remember that "we are a society of frontiers and possibilities." Read it here.